Time Out
Saturday, August 15th, 2009I’ve been absent from this blog for so long, with no real excuse except life has been rather ordinary. A cross-country trip to Oregon ordinary? Well, no… I just didn’t think to blog about that. Playing in Seattle for the P-I Tribute ordinary? Well, no, that was fabulous and meaningful. I think it comes down to blogging. I’m a private person and telling stuff to the world isn’t easy for me.
Take social networking. I’m not especially ready for that either, but my friend who makes incredible furniture, Jim Probst, has been talking to me about it. I actually signed onto LinkedIn to accept an invitation from Bing Futch (dulcimer friend from Florida). Then I got hooked up with a couple of other people there, but I still haven’t finished posting all my essential info. My dulcimer friend Gail Rundlett and my buddy Jayney have nudged me to get on Facebook. I don’t know if I want to be everybody’s friend… I don’t want to spend more and more time on my computer. What ever happened to hiking in the woods? I must admit, I got a page on MySpace and have never finished it, but I’m thinking of finally doing it. I found my old Kerrville buddy Paul Edward Sanchez there this week and he had only recently put up his page. Made me think I really oughtta get to it. Then there was a great little story on NPR this week about Twitterature — literature dished out in tweets. Now, that was cool!
Since everyone’s spending time on social networking sites, I wonder if anyone reads blogs anymore? Just in case… I was going to write about how great it is to have a whole month of time to myself, no gigs. I have these daily radiation treatments I go to but they only take 15 minutes, and they’ll be done in September. (Another thing I haven’t blogged about, but there you go.) I was honored to receive a Professional Development Grant from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts, which I used to attend the Summer Fishtrap songwriting workshop in July with Linda Waterfall. That was the impetus to drive cross-country to northeastern Oregon, since Bob got hired to teach mandolin at the Wallowa Fiddletunes Camp. We ended up doing wonderful things 30 miles apart, and got to see the Needles at Custer State Park on the way out and Arches National Park on the way back. One of my favorite things was driving across the Rockies at 11,158′ on I-80 in Colorado… oh, let’s not forget the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, MN, westbound, and the triumph of *not* running out of gas on Hwy 212 as we coasted into Crow Agency — next time, gas up in Belle Fourche!
Fall brings teaching again for Music Mentors in Charleston and Clay Community Arts in Kermit… Elderhostel at Cedar Lakes… and the Great American Dulcimer Convention and Dulcimer Chautauqua on the Wabash… and then the Good Road 20th Anniversary Tour in the Pacific Northwest. August is my time for working on projects — my Good Road Songbook and a Christmas CD with Bob. I’ve started a couple of new dulcimer books that I hope will see the light of day in a month or so. We’re also writing and recording music for a documentary film here in West Virginia. And I’m rearranging my office from top to bottom with feng shui. That’s my ordinary life. How’s yours?
